What is the average debt accumulated for students completing a degree in four years?

What are scholarship requirements for incoming students and what scholarships are available for returning students? (If you don’t qualify as a freshman, will the school reward you for proven results once you are there?)

Where are students interning and for what types of positions?

What is the size of the student body?

What is life like in the residence halls? What conditions are the rooms AND bathrooms in?

How safe is the campus?

How do students describe the faculty? (Are they accessible? Do the students form relationships with the faculty?)

Does the college offer my main areas of academic interest? (If you change your major, hopefully you won’t have to change schools.)

How active are the alumni? (A strong alumni base typically means that they feel a strong connection to their alma mater and value the time and money they spent there.)

Here are 10 questions you need to answer for yourself:

What subject area(s) would I enjoy learning about?

What is the average salary for the career I am interested in? (Does it support the amount of debt you will accumulate at your top choice schools? If not, reconsider your choice of schools, not your career choice!)

What type of learning environment will suit my learning style? (large school v. small school)

How far away from home am I comfortable going?

What type of setting will suit my interests best: urban, suburban or rural?

I think I know what I want to major in. Have I spent time shadowing a professional in that career so I really know what the job is like?

What is my cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA)? (That way you will be able to research admissions requirements for colleges and know which colleges you have a solid shot of gaining entrance to.)

By now, the majority of high school seniors have made their decision on where to go in the fall of 2011. After the deposit is sent and dorm room assigned, graduating seniors move on to the most liberating summer break they’ll ever have. It’s a transitional period from the humdrum days of high school to the exciting experiences that wait for them in late August. However, the bills will start rolling in soon and these can be a bit discouraging. Never fear though, an experienced college student is here to tell you about easy ways to rack up some scholarship money. While merit awards and other high school honors are being handed out at end of the year convocations, there are a few websites that still have some scholarship money waiting to be given out to some qualified applicants. The online applications and databases should be nothing new to the experienced scholarship hunter. To those unfamiliar with the usual paperwork, it’s a painless process that typically takes under thirty minutes to complete. That short amount of time can score you a few extra dollars for books or dorm furnishings. Here are a few sites to look up during break, check them out and try a few applications:

Banks are useful too, be sure to check with your local bank tellers for
more scholarships.

Remember that after you graduate from high school it doesn’t mean that scholarships are no longer available. You can apply for need or academic based scholarships up until your senior year of college. There’s money just waiting to be awarded from various scholarships, take a chance at finding one that suits you the best.